Food log

2010-03-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-10
TIM:18:30
SRC:Malay Satay Hut (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Ed
DSC:Roti canai, lamb satay, pineapple fried rice, pad see ew. Roti canai was nice, it's kinda like green onion pancake, but with a curry dipping sauce. Lamb satay was also good. Pad see ew and pineapple fried rice were more just standard Thai-like food fare

2010-03-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-10
TIM:13:00
SRC:Salumi (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Grilled cutto sandwich. Oily and tasty.

2010-03-09T21:14:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-09
TIM:17:30
SRC:The Crab Pot (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy, Marcus, Al
DSC:2 servings of "The Westport" (mix of crab, shrimp, clams, and mussels) and fried clam strips. Crab was alright, and clam strips hit the spot as far as fried food is concerned.

2010-03-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-06
TIM:19:30
SRC:Palace Kitchen
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Plin (tiny pork ravioli), half a crab with an orange relish/dipping sauce, and butter leaf lettuce salad. Plin was good as always, the crab was nice and very meaty, but the sauce didn't add much to it.

2010-03-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-06
TIM:13:00
SRC:Paladar Cubano (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Pan con lechon (pulled pork sandwich) and ham croquettes. The sandwich was good... nice thin bread, good meat, maybe a little too much mayonnaise. Ham croquettes (pictured) were just ok, a little bit liked fried mashed ham + mashed potatoes + cheese flavored

2010-03-04T16:44:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-03-03
TIM:19:30
SRC:Barriga Llena (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Choriqueso torta. Of the tortas I've gotten here before, this was definitely the best. Somehow less meaty than the others, and the cheese taste was a little stronger than I expected, but overall very tasty and surprisingly not too oily for chorizo.

2010-02-28T23:30:00.001-08:00

DAT:2010-02-27
TIM:19:30
SRC:Charlie's Flame Broiled Burgers (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Charlie burger. The meat wasn't much to look at, but the patty overall had a nice flame broiled taste. Sauce was good. Tatter tots on the side were nothing special.

2010-02-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-02-25
TIM:19:30
SRC:Six Seven
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Fish and chips, mussels, and hot wings. Taking advantage of an extra long happy hour that night (went up to 9PM). The mussels were good and nicely portioned. Hot wings and fish and chips not too special... though it was nice that the wings came with fennel slices instead of celery since Amy doesn't really eat celery. We had a brief debate on whether fennel was closer to celery or closer to an onion, and decided that it was more onion like because they were both bulbs.

2010-01-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-01-16
TIM:18:30
SRC:Ginza (Bellevue)
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Chirashi, butter fish w/ sweet miso, and a poached egg. Butter fish was a little bit less interesting than expected, poached egg was pretty good (came in a small cup w/ soy sauce), and the chirashi was extremely filling.

2010-01-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

DAT:2010-01-09
TIM:13:00
SRC:Sunlight Cafe (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Huevos rancheros and over-easy eggs and fried potatoes. The potatoes were great, unfortunately the beans included with the heuvos rancheros were pretty bland.

2010-01-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-12-26
TIM:19:45
SRC:101 Noodle Express (Rowland Heights)
WHO:Nick and family
DSC:Beef rolls, other things of non-importance. The beef rolls.... they haunt me. Beef + beef fat(?) + grilled pancake was very delicious. If only I wasn't already so full.

2010-01-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-12-26
TIM:17:30
SRC:Chick-fil-A (City of Industry)
WHO:Amy (Nick as driver only)
DSC:8 piece chicken nuggets w/ polynesian and ranch sauce. The ever rare Chick-fil-A, if only I wasn't so full from the previous meal. The aroma was nice though.

2010-01-02T00:16:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-12-26
TIM:12:45
SRC:Din tai feng (Arcadia)
WHO:Nick, Amy and our respective families
DSC:6 baskets of dumplings and lots of soup and lots of other things. A long wait and a super chowdown of dumplings. I left stuffed for the rest of the weekend

2009-12-25T00:19:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-12-23
TIM:18:00
SRC:Bai Tong (Tukwila)
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Duck curry. The fruit of Amy's flight getting delayed 2 hours (it was then delayed another 2 hours). Not bad, the duck was a little chewy, but the curry was nice.

2009-12-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-12-20
TIM:19:30
SRC:Shiro's (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Chirashi, clam miso soup, salmon skin roll, and black cod. Tastily marbled salmon sashimi in the chirashi.

2009-11-09T00:34:00.000-08:00

DAT:2009-10-26 to 2009-11-08
TIM:all hours
SRC:Taiwan
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:A Taiwan trip montage of food

2009-08-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

DAT:2009-08-15
TIM:18:30
SRC:Tako Truk
WHO:Nick
DSC:5 tacos this time. Beef (meh, decent but not too flavorful), yamarindo (mashed yams + salsa like thing was really good), coco piggy (mmm fat), 2 tako tacos (octopus was really good)

2009-08-13T01:02:00.000-07:00

DAT:2009-08-13
TIM:19:00
SRC:Maekawa Bar
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Takoyaki, konnyaku (wonder calorie-less yam paste?), yaki nasu. I regret the konnyaku.

2009-08-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

DAT:2009-08-06
TIM:21:30
SRC:Tako Truk
WHO:Nick
DSC:Chicken eggplant + 2 coco piggy (crispy fries on top of pork) tacos

2009-07-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

DAT:2009-07-23
TIM:13:00
SRC:Skillet Street Food
WHO:Nick
DSC:Poutine. The cheesiness got to me about half-way through

2009-07-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

DAT:2009-07-11
TIM:15:00
SRC:Peak's Frozen Custard
WHO:Nick
DSC:Granola custard with strawberries. Granola custard is not as interesting as it sounds, it was more like vanilla custard with granloa with strawberries.

2008-09-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-09-08
TIM:13:00 PT
SRC:Pacific Cafe (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Singaporean fried rice (i.e. fried rice w/ curry powder, but no pineapple because that would obviously make it thai?). Pretty decent, I liked how they have some sort of description of the type of Hong Kong cafe that they're trying to be (basically a description like this Wikipedia article). Shrimp in the fried rice were de-veined, which enough to push me to try them again. Seems like their fried chicken is decent too.

2008-09-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-09-05
TIM:12:30 PT
SRC:Fort St. George (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Pork tonkatsu and hamburger lunch combo. Service is slow as always, but I really like their tonkatsu and hamburger combo. The spaghetti is still taking a bit of effort to get used to, but it's not horrible, just that it would've been nicer warm.

2008-08-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-08-27
TIM:13:00 PT
SRC:Henry's Bento (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Pork rice plate. They give you a lot of pork and the pork is mostly okay. The seasoning wasn't totally to my liking, but was still pretty tasty. The purple rice that they give with everything (including using it to make their fan tuan) is ok in a healthy way, but usually I just want soft white rice. Lots of food but slightly pricier than I'd like to spend on International District lunch food. Also, they lose points for apparently not having sweet fan tuan and instead only serving the pickled/salty version. It is funny how it makes the surrounding block smell like stinky tofu.

2008-07-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-07-19
TIM:17:00 PT
SRC:Guu (Richmond, BC)
WHO:Nick, Amy, Michelle, Amy and Mom
DSC:Pumpkin croquette, unagi cha, grilled eggplant, grilled mackeral, backed avocado w/ shrimp and mayonnaise, grilled scallop. I liked it all, the pumpkin croquette filled with a hard boiled egg was the most intimidating thing to eat. Otherwise it was all really good.

2008-06-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-06-22
TIM:20:00 PT
SRC:Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Shop
WHO:Nick, Jimmy, Sam, George
DSC:Cardamom, mandrian chocolate sorbet, and salted caramel. I liked the salted caramel, while quite salty it reminded me a lot of the pumpkin pie from Palace Kitchen, in that so sweet and yet so salty sorta goodness.

2008-06-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-06-22
TIM:18:30 PT
SRC:Alki Crab and Fish Co (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Jimmy, Sam, George
DSC:Fried seafood and clam chowder. The fried seafood was pretty good for fried seafood, a reasonable level of greasiness to be drowned out with tartar sauce. Plus the view of the Seattle skyline on the outside patio was nice on this lazy Sunday evening.

2008-06-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-06-21
TIM:14:00 PT
SRC:The Crab Pot (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy, Jianan, Danny et al
DSC:"The Westport" seafood bucket. A big bucket of seafood (including among other things crab, mussels, clams, potatoes, and corn). Unexpected quite good, probably the best bucket of steamed seafood I've ever had. Only disappointment is that I ran low on butter, but the butter was good.

2008-05-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-05-24
TIM:18:00 PT
SRC:n/a
WHO:Nick
DSC:Cricket Green Tea Cola. Kinda intersting, though not that great. The green tea flavor comes out as the "tanginess" that I think a lot of green tea flavored drinks end up with nowadays. I don't really like "tangy" green tea.

2008-05-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-05-23
TIM:21:30 PT
SRC:n/a
WHO:Nick
DSC:Zenmaster Honey Ginger Ale. Not a restaurant this time. Pretty good for randomly interesting ginger ale. It has a "realistic" ginger taste and is sweet (too sweet according to Amy).

2008-05-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-05-11
TIM:20:00 PT
SRC:Lola (Seattle)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Lola sampler (tzatziki, shrimp kebabs, fried chickpeas, and dolmas) and lamb ravioli with yogurt sauce along with a melon spritzer. The lamb ravioli was a bit more lamby than I expected mostly because it was like a hunk of lamb meat instead of the minced lamb meat I expected. The sampler was really good... nice rich tzatziki and I though the shrip was grilled w/ a nice sweet glaze.

2008-04-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-27
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Tacos Gaby (Mount Vernon, WA)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:2 beef tacos and a cabeza burrito. Ah... random taco truck on the way back from the Tulip Festival... actually after reading the Wikipedia entry on cabeza I'm kinda scared now about what I just ate. It was labeled as w/ the english equivalent -- BBQ (???). But it was pretty good overall, and cheap.

2008-04-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-23
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Blue Moon Burger (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Southwest burger and fries. Their half off Wednesday evenings deal is a heck of a deal (especially since their prices are somewhat inflated). The burger was pretty good, of note the slices of battered/fried jalepenos were interesting and tasty. I still think their fries aren't salty enough, but they're still a lot better than Red Mill's which are mostly just very generic.

2008-04-20T01:44:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-20
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Burgermaster (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Patty melt and fries. So kinda wondering what this place would be like after driving by it a couple of times (it's next to University Village), and it's kinda like extra 70ish burger restaurant. It's sit down and has vinyl booths/benches all over the place. The fries weren't that great, the patty melt was alright. It mostly makes me think of Nations from back in the Bay Area, like a really random somewhat retro local burger chain... that serves food of questionable quality...

2008-04-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-16
TIM:20:30 PST
SRC:Rancho Bravo Tacos (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Al pastor "bravo" burrito. Meat still pretty good (just right amount of greasiness/fattiness). The burrito has to be one of the most poorly wrapped burritos I've eaten in a while though... the tin foil was around it all weird and it was spilling out of it's middle seam a bit. Could've used some more cheese. Still quite solid, my Mexican fix is sated for now.

2008-04-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-15
TIM:19:00 PST
SRC:Fu Man Dumpling (Seattle)
WHO:Me, et all
DSC:84 dumplings (garlic chive, green onion, cabbage, pork), fried noodles, fried rice, ma po tofu. Quite good dumplings. Far superior to the frozen stuff.. reminded me of my family's homemade ones. They also sell chinese hamburgers, which I'll have to try next time.

2008-04-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-04-12
TIM:13:00
SRC:Rancho Bravo Tacos (Seattle)
WHO:Me
DSC:Al pastor torta. The meat was pretty good unfortunately the bun/bread wasn't that great i.e. basically being hotdog bun like.

2008-03-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

DAT:2008-03-26
TIM:20:30
SRC:Veil (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy
DSC:Pea and carrot soup; crab and parsnips; gnocchi; and chocolate terrine. Part of the Dine around town deal. Food was pretty good: gnocchi and crab dishes standing out in particular. The crab had an interesting cracker like base that was well.. interesting.

2007-10-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-10-28
TIM:14:30
SRC:Baguette Box (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Braised pork with red wine baguette and fries. I didn't eat the sandwich right away (took it to go), so the oil soaked through the bread a bit, and overall it was a little too oily. But it was very tasty, the shredded pork didn't have any particular taste, but it was moist and juicy. The fries were very good too, sort of like Dick's but thicker and with a little bit of a garlic taste.

2007-10-28T14:48:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-10-23
TIM:20:00
SRC:Crow (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:House lasagna, smashed potato cake, Bitburger lager. Sat at the bar in front of the kitchen so it was somewhat fun to watch my food being made. Unfortuantely the food wasn't that great. The lasagna was pretty bland, and the scant traces of sausage didn't seem that different from those you get with frozen lasagna. Smashed potato cake, a large flat mound of mashed potatoes, was alright, but nothing exceptional. So overall, nothing too special for the price, and I had a long food coma after finishing all that food.

2007-10-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-10-20
TIM:21:00
SRC:Palace Kitchen (Seattle)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Lavender fondue and pumpkin pie. The fondue was pretty good, served in a dish heated by a tea candle, but it didn't have much of a lavendar taste/aroma. The pumpkin pie was really, really good. It comes as a round tarte with some seeds on top (pumpkin?). The crust is really crispy like filo dough, and filling is a nice mixture of pumpkin, nutmeg, sweetness and a little bit of saltiness.

2007-06-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-06-10
TIM:19:00
SRC:Maneki (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy, and Maggie
DSC:Shrimp sunomono, tako yaki, croquette, miso black cod collar (i.e. neck), unagi kama meshi, spider roll, and salmon skin roll. My first time having tako yaki, I thought it was OK, not too special, but Amy and Maggie said it was only average and not really cooked they way they expected. I surprisingly liked the black cod, which even though it was bony at least the bones were large and meat very tasty. As for the unagi kama meshi, it was pretty nice, a surprisingly deep steel bowl that is kinda like an unagi-don, but with the unagi cooked with the rice and some other vegetables (so "permeated" unagi flavor).

2007-06-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-06-08
TIM:22:30
SRC:Palace Kitchen (Seattle)
WHO:Nick, Amy, and Maggie (Amy's cousin)
DSC:Roast pork ravioli ("plin"), roasted mushrooms, and pasta with fish meatballs. The fish meatballs were really good.

2007-05-30T01:51:00.001-07:00

DAT:2007-05-30
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Tat's Delicatessen (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Philly cheese steak with onions and sweet peppers. I guess it's kinda bad if the thing that stood out to me was that the sales tax in Pioneer Square is 9.4%. It was alright, lots of meat, not too greasy, decent bread. It may be as close to a torta as I'll get around work.

2007-05-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-05-25
TIM:17:30 PST
SRC:Maneki (Seattle)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Clam sakamushi, vegetable tempura, and salmon with miso rockefeller sauce. Clam soup was pretty nice, not as alcohol tasting as Tachibana's, though not as savory as Kabuto A&S'. The miso rockefeller was an unknown as to what it would turn out to be, but it was quite nice, kinda like a mayonnaisy-misoy sauce.

2007-05-17T01:56:00.000-07:00

DAT:2007-05-16
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Blue Water Taco Grill (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Chicken torta. It turned out to be something like a large hamburger bun that's lightly grilled, with a mess of chicken, salsa, lettuce in the middle. Nope, I won't be trying this again.

2007-02-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

DAT:2007-02-21
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Kinder's (Concord)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Ball tip sandwich, baked beans, and potato salad. Nice and not too heavy on the sauce. The sandwich was good enough to entice me to still somehow manage to finish it all in one sitting.

2007-02-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

DAT:2007-02-15
TIM:21:00 PST
SRC:Gregoire (Oakland)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Green garlic marinated grilled chicken and an order of potato puffs. Not bad for having to sit around in my car for an hour. I went to the Oakland branch (not the original Berkeley one). The chicken was pretty good, though the olive mayonaise provided on the side was a little bit random. The potato puffs weren't quite as mind-blowing as I expected. But the first few were still good, after that the doughiness started to kick in (the tasty aioli helped cut through some of that).

2007-01-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-01-07
TIM:22:30 PST
SRC:Palace Kitchen (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Washington chicken and a half pint of some IPA. Best chicken I can ever recall eating. It was a oven roasted chicken with some pickled kumquat pieces on the side (those tasted kinda weird), some brussel sprouts (kinda too cooked to be very good, but still acceptable), and mashed potatoes. The chicken had a nice almost duck-like skin that was tasty. It's really cool how there are restaurants that serve a full menu that late. Palace Kitchen does it 'til 1 AM everyday, which I find pretty unbelievable considering how most places in Berkeley close at 9. Another highlight were the olives (sadly only 3 of them) that came in the olive oil + vinegar dip that came with the bread.

2006-12-22T00:52:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-12-20
TIM:20:00 PST
SRC:Starbucks (Oakland)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Egg salad sandwich and egg nog latte. The egg salad was alright. Not enough mustard for me to really like. The egg nog latte was pretty good other than the weird spices that were floating at the top.

2006-12-22T00:45:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-12-20
TIM:11:45 PST
SRC:Chez Panisse Cafe (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Fennel salad, baked goat cheese, fried quail, and grilled fish (what type escapes me...). Finished with a persimmon pudding cake-like dessert and we shared a glass of pear cider. The food was all cooked and seasoned very well. The fried quail bits were tasty, and I thought the fish was very nicely flavored (just salty and lemony enough). Oh and the complimentary table bread was very good!

2006-12-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-12-16
TIM:20:30 PST
SRC:Cesar (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pork with fig salsa, sole (with something?), salt cod and potato cazuela, and brussel sprouts. Finished with bread pudding as usual. Amy had a sangria as usual, and I had a mojito. Nice and consistent. The pork was a little dry, but everything else was very nice, I think I liked the sole but can't remember what I liked about it anymore.

2006-11-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-11-12
TIM:20:00 PST
SRC:Cesar (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Bread pudding. The eating continues and finishes up at Cesar.

2006-11-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-11-12
TIM:18:30 PST
SRC:King Tsin (Albany)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Lemon chicken and seafood clay pot. Pretty decent, nothing too strange and definitely a cut above cheap Chinese food.

2006-11-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-11-12
TIM:17:30 PST
SRC:Sketch Ice Cream (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Earl grey ice cream and asian pear granita. Their earl grey ice cream is really good. Oh and they cut Amy off at 3 samples (we usually end up trying almost everything), so I donated one to her.

2006-10-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-10-29
TIM:11:15 PST
SRC:La Mediteranee (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pomegranate chicken and steamed eggs with lox and onions.

2006-10-30T23:58:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-10-28
TIM:17:30 PST
SRC:Tachibana (Oakland)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Various nigiri, clam sakamushi, grilled eggplant, sake sorbet, and croquettes.

2006-10-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-19
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Korea House (Concord)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Kalbi lunch special. The special included: miso soup, salad, a couple of potstickers, some fried green beans, and a fried chicken drumstick (a small one); the sides were: dried seaweed (the extra saltiness just wanted me to eat them more), fish cakes, some sort of tofu in hot sauce thing, spicy cucumbers, and of course kimchi. This is the somewhat new Korean restaurant in the Fry's strip mall, it was pretty busy so I had to share a table, which made for ackward stares between me and the mom/child combo I was accross from as I chowed down. Definitely better than the other Korean restaurant that opened a year ago or so, but nothing really stuck out other than the seaweed. Seemed to be run by nice Korean people though (forced more rice upon me), and the waitress kept coming by and saying something like "seawood, (point at rice), suishi, yes, sushi (Nick nods), seaweed yes".

2006-10-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-17
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Luigi's Italian Delicatessen (Concord)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Muffuletta. I bit messier and more artery clogging than I expected. Good enough to make me soldier through and finish it in one sitting.

2006-10-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-16
TIM:18:30 PST
SRC:Thai Basil (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pineapple fried rice. Wow, we finished.

2006-10-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-16
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Taqueria Los Gallos (Concord)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Al pastor quesadilla. Their version of pastor is more like what I remember it being like at the place I frequently went to at University and Shattuck (i.e. cooked with onions and some peppers). It was alright for nostalgic purposes, but I think I should stick to just getting enchilada plates there (cheap!), and get my burritos at the other place. It's scary how there's something like 8 different Mexican restaurants (3 of which being sit down sorts of restaurants) within 10 minutes of walking from work.

2006-10-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-15
TIM:13:30 PST
SRC:Ramen Rama (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick and Chris
DSC:"Cupertino" special, which was the char siu shoyu ramen, fried rice, and gyoza. Ramen was alright, I put it about the same as Manpuku, but I'm not too picky. I liked how the half egg I got was boiled to a good point (the yolk wasn't too hard, but it wasn't runny either). The fried rice and gyoza were pretty subpar though, whereas I remember really liking them Manpuku's and Ryowa's.

2006-10-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-14
TIM:13:00 PST
SRC:Rio Adobe (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Carne adobada burrito. Not really a great burrito, too much rice and put together too sloppily. It was pretty similiar to a Chipotle burrito, not that there's anything too wrong with that, but I think I usually like the grilled sort of burrito (they grill the tortilla). Plus, I think me and carnitas just don't get along, I always feel it's too dry to make good burrito filling. But then again I think I'm spoiled by eating at El Farolito at least once a week, and think any other sort of burrito is weird. Other than my first love, the chorizo y papas at La Cascada (I like their vegetarian burritos still too).

2006-10-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-11
TIM:19:30 EST
SRC:Buffalo Wild Wings (Jacksonville)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Medium boneless buffalo wings and a pint of Yuengling. I liked it better than Hooter's wings mostly because it was lighter on the grease, the sauce was pretty nice too.

2006-10-11T17:38:00.001-07:00

DAT:2006-10-10
TIM:19:30 EST
SRC:Village Inn (Jacksonville)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Garden skillet (mostly potatoes with scrambled egg on top) with pancakes. I'm not sure why I still feel drawn to ordering breakfast food, when I always think it taste bad afterwards and leaves me feeling bad as well.

2006-10-08T01:49:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-07
TIM:12:30 PST
SRC:Miyake (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick and parents
DSC:Salmon terriyaki lunch special and soft shell crab rolls.

2006-10-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-10-01
TIM:16:30 PST
SRC:Little Caeser's (Pittsburg)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Pepperoni deep dish pizza. The store I tried going to like a year ago is finally open again, so I had to go to get some of that rectangular shaped pizza.

2006-10-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-30
TIM:19:00 PST
SRC:Popeyes (Pittsburg)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Buffalo nuggets and mashed potatoes. I think I'm getting kinda addicted the sides at Popeyes (the chicken's alright). I missed out by not eating there when I lived somewhat close to the Berkeley branch.

2006-10-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-29
TIM:18:30 PST
SRC:Hong Fu (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick and extended family
DSC:Notable items were some sort of steamed/boiled pig leg-thing that I thought tasted kinda like good+fatty corned beef, and mice shaped pastries filled with red bean paste. The mice were pretty cute.

2006-10-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-28
TIM:20:30 PST
SRC:Smart Alec's (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:2 bowls of potato leek soup and included servings of corn bread. What potato leek soup is supposed to be like to me (chunky and leeky).

2006-09-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-21
TIM:13:30 EST
SRC:Chick-fil-A (Orlando)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and a lemonade. Not quite as awe inspiring as I thought it would be, but it hit the spot for my pre-8 hours of traveling hunger. I think In-N-Out is a bigger step up over your average fast food hamburger than Chick-fil-A's step up over your average fast food chicken sandwich.

2006-09-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-19
TIM:19:30 EST
SRC:Shula's (Orlando)
WHO:Nick and work folks
DSC:King crab claw, barbeque shrimp wrapped in bacon, 16 oz New York strip steak, and key lime pie. Ahh... the vendor dinner (my first one). The steak was pretty good and the portions were huge overall. The tab was supposedly somewhere in the $4000+ range... (we get a lot of big eaters and big drinkers in our group)

2006-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-16
TIM:22:30 EST
SRC:Raglan Road (Orlando)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Potato leek soup; braised cabbage; and Harp Lager. A nice, lively Irish pub celebrating the halfway point to St. Patrick's day (I guess I came in on a good day). So nice filling soup and kinda bland cabbage, but a really nice atmosphere (other than a tin wreath of four leaf clovers falling onto my head) and nice live Irish music (singing Country Roads, Take Me Home at one point).

2006-09-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-09
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Thai House (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Beef salad; sauteed eggplants; and a Thai iced tea. Amy felt the beef salad tasted a little too interesting because maybe fish oil or other weird tasting oil was added to it.

2006-09-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-09
TIM:11:30 PST
SRC:IHOP (Emeryville)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pancake combo. 2 eggs over easy, 2 breakfast sausages, 2 buttermilk pancakes, and hash browns. It is still always more expensive than I think it will be, but it was a nice breakfast/lunch and enough for Amy and me to split.

2006-09-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-06
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Manpuku (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Tonkatsu curry and California roll with tobiko. Manpuku was busier than I remember it being during the regular school year.

2006-09-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-04
TIM:11:45 PST
SRC:HC Dumpling (Cupertino)
WHO:Amy, Nick, and family
DSC:Dumplings and various other things. Of note to Nick are: spicy wontons and soup. I really liked the soup for some reason.

2006-09-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-09-01
TIM:19:30
SRC:Adagia (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Fritto misto, duck confit (Nick), lamb shank (Amy). The fritto misto was kinda like a salty tempura, I liked the deep fried lemons, but I don't think Amy really liked the fennel too much. Lamb shank was nice and not too lamby and had some tomatoes around it as a garnish that were good. Luckily they didn't give us any dirty looks when we used the 2-for-1 entree coupon from the Guide to the Good Life in Berkeley thing they hand out around campus.

2006-08-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

DAT:08.14.2006
TIM:7:50pm
SRC:Amy's
WHO:Amy & Nick
DSC:Vegetable gratin, made from (yummy & very cheap vine-ripened fancy...from berkeley bowl!) tomatoes, red onion, olives, blah blah cheese from berkeley bowl, eggplants (gift from Sally), layered and seasoned in a baking pan, topped with bread crumbs, and baked for 45 min. Served with Asiago rolls...

2006-08-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-08-12
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Cesar (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pork chop with potatoes and pomegranate with port wine reduction sauce; roasted pear over blue cheese spread on bread; salt cod (almost like mashed potatoes but salty and fishy) (yay!); and bread pudding.

2006-08-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-08-12
TIM:18:00 PST
SRC:Beard Papa (San Francisco)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:2 vanilla, 1 chocolate, 1 caramel cream puffs. I was kinda sad they sold out of the cheesecake sticks (apparently just introduced yesterday). But yummy! And since there weren't any pictures taken yesterday, here's a stock Amy eating cream puff photo:

2006-08-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-08-11
TIM:19:00 PST
SRC:Udupi Palace
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:South Indian thali. A mixture of various Udupi Palace things (small bowls of each) with rice, tortilla (Indian version of one?), and giant puff (bhatura). Pretty good, with only the weird sweet noodles and yogurt thing being weird, though Amy still prefers Chaat Cafe to it.

2006-08-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

DAT:08/02/2006
TIM:12:30pm
SRC:Unknown Indian Restaurant in Marin (it probably has some indistinctive name in English, such as blah blah village or blah blah palace. After eating there for the second time, I've still failed to notice its name, a sign that no one at the restaurant thought the English name to be important enough to warrant making a noticable sign, which is how I can guess that it is also indistinctive.)
WHO:coworkers etc.
DSC:Indian buffet...

Poor food log, it hasn't been updated since April. I've always meant to add in those missing entries (with food pictures and help from convenient EXIF information)....

Cheap indian buffet that came out to be $7 per person, including tip (!), all you can eat with 18 courses (I think they really meant 18 items, unless they meant you get up to get more food 18 times). Various curry/masala dishes (the masala thingie with curry in it was SOOO good, it's almost as good as the Saffron Chicken from "Taste of the Himalayas" in Berkeley ([a.k.a. "the Himalayan restaurant"]). Pakora, yogurt sauce (with cucumbers!), free chai & unlimited naan, pistacio tapioca (rice?) dessert...etc.

* edit: I was just checking my credit card statements online (from the first time I went). And the restaurant was called "India Village." See.

2006-07-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

DAT:07.27.2006
TIM:7:33 pm
SRC:Manpuku (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick & Amy
DSC: 2 item bento (salmon shioyaki and sashimi) with eel and cucumber maki. The eel and cucumber roll was incredibly good...
Yay, retroactive food blogging (It is now Aug 14). With EXIF help from the food picture, the meal can be dated at exactly 7:33 pm, July 27, 2006.

2006-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-04-15
TIM:13:45 PST
SRC:La Note (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Pain perdu (French toast) and ratatouille madame (zucchini and eggplant stew over couscous and poached eggs). Day before Easter-brunch? It was really busy, but tastier than any brunch I've had. The ratatouille was a tomato'y vegetable stew and went well with some bread and some couscous. The French toast had an interesting lavender-like flavor from the honey poured on top.

2006-04-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-04-14
TIM:18:30 PST
SRC:Top Dog (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Bird dog topped with spicy mustard and onions (Nick) lemon chicken topped with lots of stuff (Amy). It's been a while for me, and the first time for Amy. I always stupidly get the spicy mustard though (they really need to have large warning labels on the tub because I thought I got normal yellow mustard at first).

2006-04-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-04-09
TIM:19:30 PST
SRC:Nick's cooking
WHO:Nick
DSC:Sausage, onion, basil torte. Modified from an Everyday Italian recipe (I replaced pancetta with sausage cause I went the easier route at Safeway). Turned out pretty good, though it probably would've been better with the pancetta instead of sausage. The crust kinda falls off if you touch it (care of Safeway Select frozen pie crust).

2006-04-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-04-08
TIM:18:30
SRC:Nick's cooking
WHO:Nick
DSC:Fried pork cutlet, baked brussel sprouts, and baked potato wedges. I added some curry powder to the bread crumbs I used for the pork, it turned out so-so. And, I think my brussel sprouts turned out the best tasting (though still more cabbage'y than what I get at restaurants) of all my attempts.

2006-04-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

DAT:2006-04-06
TIM:19:00 PST
SRC:Nick's cooking
WHO:Nick
DSC:Sauteed fish with mushrooms, and Trader Joe's potato medley. Trader Joe's frozen food to feed Nick. For some reason, I'm really addicted to the potato medley, last time I went Trader Joe's I picked up 2 bags of it.

2006-03-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

DAT:03/10/2006
TIM:6:00pm
SRC:Manpuku
WHO:Nick & Amy
DSC:Chicken Curry, vegetable yakisoba, unagi and cucumber roll

2006-02-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-02-20
TIM:11:45 PT
SRC:HC Dumpling (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick, dad, aunt, uncle, and cousin
DSC:Soup dumplings, hot oil wontons, spinach and tofu, beef wrap, steamed buns with condensed milk, and fried pork. It's like Din Tai Fung-lite? I really liked their 紅油抄手 (hot oil wontons), and their soup dumplings were good (probably not better than the real deal?). We waited in line starting at about 11:25 (12 groups in front of us, and about 7 more behind by the time we got in) and didn't get in for a while because they were setting up and weren't open yet.

2006-02-19T17:08:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-02-18
TIM:12:30 PT
SRC:Fiesta Del Mar (Mountain View)
WHO:Nick and parents
DSC:Mole enchiladas. Sweet and spicy enchiladas, the sauce was kinda overpowering, but I still like this place better than all mexican sit-down restaurants.

2006-02-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-02-17
TIM:22:30 PT
SRC:Cesar (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Jamon croquettes and sea salt, herb fried potatoes with bread pudding for desert; plus favored alocholic drink: sangria. Manpuku was closed so we went to Cesar, instead. The fried potatoes were very thin, but nice and the herbs added some nice flavor. The croquettes were almost just like fried meatballs.

2006-02-12T20:10:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-02-12
TIM:19:30 PT
SRC:Nick's place
WHO:Nick
DSC:Homemade carbonara with bell peppers. I used normal bacon instead of the Italian stuff too. It turned out OK, but probably could've used some more seasoning.

2006-02-12T03:18:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-02-11
TIM:22:00 PST
SRC:Crepevine (Oakland)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Tuscany crepe (chicken, tomatoes, and almonds with a pesto sauce), a scrambled egg, and a Siena crepe (straberries, nuts, and Nutella). My sort of soul food.

2006-01-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

DAT:01.28.2006
TIM:7:30pm
SRC:Nick's parent's house
WHO:Amy & Nick's extended family
DSC:Chinese New Year Dinner! I don't remember all the dishes because there were lots of them: 年糕 (rice cake), stir-fried quail egg + sea cucumber + mushroom + egg dumplings (very good!) + other things, 十錦菜 (salad with 10 things in it: bean sprouts, bean curd, bamboo shoots, wood-ear, unknown vegetable stem, shitaki and 'normal' mushroom, 榨菜, 醬瓜, carrots) made by Nick's grandma, smoked fish made by Nick's grandma, braised (?) napa cabbage with dried shrimp, stir-fried bamboo shoots, chicken, ox-tail soup, Vietnamese jello thingie...Nick, add in the rest :D

2006-01-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-01-28
TIM:13:00 PST
SRC:Dynasty (Cupertino)
WHO:Nick's family, Nick's cousins, Amy, and Nick
DSC:Dim sum. Didn't get any of the normal steamed dumpling like things (i.e. shrimp dumplings or shau mai) because we were sitting in the back dining room and there wasn't as much cart traffic. But, the raddish cake was good.

2006-01-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

DAT:01/22/2006
TIM:2:00pm
SRC:Vik's Chaat and Sweets
WHO:Amy & Nick
DSC:
samosa cholle (Two crusty pastries stuffed with green peas and covered with a spicy garbanzo chutney.)
dahi batata puri (
Crisp puffed puris stuffed with potatoes and garbanzos covered with yogurt and tamarind.) <-- really really good
pakori chaat (Lentil dumpling covered with yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.)
+ random sweets.
Nick's note: random sweets were pretty interesting and moist and cold yet hard

2006-01-21T23:05:00.000-08:00

DAT:01/21/2006
TIM:07:00pm
SRC:Citron (Berkeley/Oakland)
WHO:Amy's company & nick
DSC:Company holiday (?) party! From what I remember, I had:
1. white wine
2. Belgium Endive (?) Salad + Burgandy (white)
3. New York Steak + potato al gratin + baby carrots (very sweet!) + red wine (forgot name)
4. Chocolate Cake + mousse (?) + some sort of port
5. Cosmopolitan
Nick's note: I took the vegetarian route with vegetable tart (seemed like a squash filled with spinach/broccoli/cheese), and I had the lobster bisque (paired with champagne).

2006-01-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

DAT:2006-01-20
TIM:Night?
SRC:Gypsy's (Berkeley)
WHO:Nick and Amy
DSC:Spaghetti with chichen and capers in white wine sauce (Amy), lasagna (Nick). The lasagna was really filling, and Amy seemed to really, really enjoy the white wine sauce.